Vehicles such as recreational vehicles (RVs) and trailers towed by motorized vehicles, as well as manufactured housing units (MHUs), typically have a floor frame, which is securely bolted or otherwise mechanically fastened to the vehicle chassis or the lower horizontal load-bearing frame of the MHU. A lower surface of the floor frame thus abuts at least a significant portion of an upper surface of the chassis, etc. to which it is fastened. An upper surface of the floor frame, opposite from the lower surface thereof, is typically covered by multi-piece deck flooring material, which itself is then covered by a floor such as carpeting, a vinyl or other flooring material or the like.
In manufacturing and assembling RVs and MHUs, each of the multiple pieces of the deck flooring materials must be staged and moved into position to begin installing the floor. Further, each of the multiple deck flooring materials must be carefully aligned together as the floor is installed. The multiple pieces typically come in standard lengths. Thus, the number of the multiple pieces of deck flooring required for a given RV/MHU floor depends on the size of the vehicle being manufactured and assembled.
The staging and the moving of each the multiple pieces of deck flooring and the careful coordination thereof, and the careful alignment of each of the multiple pieces adds significant cost, labor and latency associated with the manufacture and assembly of RVs/MHUs.
The deck flooring materials are selected based on their characteristics for use in manufacturing RVs, trailers and MHUs. For example, typical characteristics significant in selecting deck flooring materials for RV, trailer and MHU production include their strength in relation to bearing a load, durability, moisture resistance, and the efficiency, ease and/or cost-effectiveness with which the selected deck flooring material may be used in manufacturing an MHU, trailer or RV. Deck flooring materials with high load-bearing strength, high durability and good moisture resistance attributes are typically thus selected, if the materials may also be used cost-effectively in the production.
Notwithstanding the general benefits of these characteristics of the materials typically selected for vehicle manufacturing applications however, they may produce floors which, when walked on or otherwise traversed or loaded during use may present less than desirable experiences to users. Plain wood veneer panels for example, such as may also be used for manufacturing plywood may provide a high load-bearing strength characteristic and thus may typically be selected as a floor decking material in vehicle manufacturing. As such multiple separate sheets are typically laid end-to-end in producing the vehicle floor, the seams between the sheets may be perceived.
As RV users walk across the deck for example, they may shift their weight from one foot to the other and at one point, the load borne by the floor may shift from a first wood deck sheet to a second wood deck sheet across a common seam separating them. The second sheet may thus be pushed downward somewhat (e.g., towards the upper surface of the chassis, etc.) as it is loaded. Substantially at the same time, the first sheet may lift up somewhat (e.g., away from the upper surface of the chassis, etc.) as it is unloaded (e.g., as the walker's weight is shifted off of it). Even if the movement of each of the sheets along their common seam is slight, it may cause undesirable movement and squeaking or other noise.
However slight such movement of each of the plain wood veneer sheets along their common seam may be, users may perceive an associated motion and the uneven edges of each of the sheets along their common seam may also form an obstruction, which could be inconvenient or hazardous. And while they may provide high load-bearing strength relative to other materials, the plain wood veneer sheets may themselves each flex somewhat upon loading even apart from their edges, an associated motion of which users may perceive as a slight flexing, bounce or instability. These associated motions may all be considered unpleasant, annoying or vexing.
Further, such movements may also be perceived acoustically and/or haptically, e.g., as squeaks, pops, chaffing or other noises or vibrations. Some vehicle floors may be covered with carpet, which may dampen, but not eliminate some of the noise and vibration and/or the perception of the associated motions. Other floor decking materials such as vinyl vehicle floors may flex or move with less noise than end-to-end wood veneer sheets but may have higher levels of perceived motion associated therewith and/or less load-bearing strength relative to the plain wood veneer approach. Thus, using carpeting or different conventional materials may be only partially palliative.
Approaches described in this section may, but have not necessarily been conceived or pursued previously. Unless otherwise indicated, approaches mentioned (or issues identified in relation thereto) should not to be assumed as recognized or admitted in any alleged prior art merely by inclusion in this section.